Concomitant use of congo red staining and confocal laser scanning microscopy to detect amyloidosis in oral biopsy: A clinicopathological study of 16 patients

Twenty oral biopsies from 16 patients were analyzed both by traditional microscopy and by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Using conventional histopathological techniques, the diagnosis of amyloidosis was confirmed only in 15 biopsies. Using confocal laser scanning microscopy, amyloid deposits were detected in all of the samples. The current study shows that confocal laser scanning analysis helps to identify minimal amyloid deposits that could be overlooked using traditional microscopy, thus raising the sensitivity of oral biopsy up to 100%.